Classical new release - Harmonia Mundi UK Distribution

Label: AGOGIQUE
File Under: Classical/Instrumental
Catalogue No: AGO011
Barcode: 3700675500115
NORMAL Price
Format: 1 CD
Packaging: digipack
Bruno Cocset [cello, viola]
Les Basses Réunies:
Emmanuel Jacques [tenor violin]
Esmé de Vries [cello]
Bertrand Cuiller [harpsichord]
Evaristo e Joseph DALL'ABACO: Padre E Figlio / Father & Son
11 Capricci & altri canzoni
Bruno Cocset
Les Basses Réunies
RELEASE DATE
3RD JUNE 2013
This recording is devoted to two Italian composers, Father and son, who in many ways were typical of the 18th-century
artist: trained by the finest teachers, leaving their native land in pursuit of their careers while nevertheless upholding its
musical traditions [nourished and enriched by many influences, including French] and acting as its ambassadors in other
parts of Europe.
Evaristo, the father, is the better known, born 1675, he may have trained with Gasparo Gasparini in Verona, before
meeting Torelli. He was part of the retinue of the Prince-Elector of Bavaria, Maximilian Il Emanuel, a famous and
extravagant patron of the arts and followed him to Brussels, after defeat in the War of the Spanish Succession.
Dall'Abaco's first opus was published in Amsterdam and many of the pieces recorded here are from that collection.
Joseph Marie Clément Dall'Abaco was one of Evaristo's four children ann made his name as a cellist with a long career
of some renown. The family continued to follow Maximilian: from Rambouillet, Versailles, Compiègne, Luxembourg and
his return to Munich. Evaristo was rewarded for his loyalty with the appointment as Konzertmeister of the newly
reconstituted court orchestra in Munich. He sent his son to Venice to further his musical education and on his return
Joseph became director of the court chamber orchestra and councillor to Clemens August I of Bavaria at Bonn, a
position which allowed him the freedom to perform in major European centres including London.
Dall'Abaco figlio composed mostly cello sonatas. Whilst illustrating the new galant and pre-Classical styles, some of his
works also retain the gravity of Baroque and the expansive melodic style inherited from his father. Almost 40 of his
sonatas are now preserved in the British Library. The pieces presented here, however, are the eleven 'Capricci del sig.
Giuseppe Barone Dall'Abaco' from an unfinished manuscript from the library of the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in
Milan. These virtuoso Capricci are played on a new instrument, strung just a fortnight before this recording by Charles Riché.
The pieces by his father, Evaristo, are played on 'mature' instruments with a more mellow sound.